283.--Assassination of the Duke of Burgundy, John the
Fearless, on the Bridge of Montereau, in 1419.--Fac-simile of a Miniature
in the "Chronicles" of Monstrelet, Manuscript of the Fifteenth Century, in
the Library of the Arsenal of Paris.]

Emboldened by the success of their exacting and arbitrary rule, the Dukes
of Anjou, Burgundy, and Berry, under pretext of requiring money for war
expenses, again increased the taxes from the year 1385 to 1388; and the
salt tax was raised to forty golden francs, about 24,000 francs of present
money, per hogshead. The ecclesiastics paid a half decime to the King, and
several decimes to the Pope, but these did not prevent a forced loan being
ordered. Happily, Charles VI. about this period attained his majority, and
assumed his position as king; and his uncle, the Duke of Bourbon, who was
called to the direction of affairs, re-established comparative order in
financial matters; but soon after the King's brother, the Duke of Orleans,
seized the reins of government, and, jointly with his sister-in-law,
Isabel of Bavaria, increased the taxation far beyond that imposed by the
Duke d'Anjou. The Duke of Burgundy, called John the Fearless, in order to
gratify his personal hatred to his cousin, Louis of Orleans, made himself
the instrument of the strong popular feeling by assassinating that prince
as he was returning from an entertainment. The tragical death of the Duke
of Orleans no more alleviated the ills of France than did that of the Duke
of Burgundy sixteen years later--for he in his turn was the victim of a
conspiracy, and was assassinated on the bridge of Montereau in the
presence of the Dauphin (Fig. 283). The marriage of Isabel of France with
the young king Richard of England, the ransom of the Christian prisoners
in the East, the money required by the Emperor of Constantinople to stop
the invasions of the Turks into Europe, the pay of the French army, which
was now permanent, each necessarily required fresh subsidies, and money
had to be raised in some way or other from the French people. Distress was
at its height, and though the people were groaning under oppression, they
continued to pay not only the increased taxes on provisions and
merchandise, and an additional general tax, but to submit to the most
outrageous confiscations and robbery of the public money from the public
treasuries. The State Assemblies held at Auxerre and Paris in 1412 and
1413, denounced the extravagance and ma